Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Lowers Stake in MetLife, Inc. $MET

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 232,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,772 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MetLife were worth $18,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife in the 2nd quarter worth $756,104,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in MetLife by 13.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,749,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,333,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,578,199 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MetLife by 105.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,305,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,563 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 40.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 4,507,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,107 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of MetLife by 173.4% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,641,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,894 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of MetLife from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MetLife from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Mizuho set a $100.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of MetLife from $101.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.67.

MetLife Stock Performance

NYSE:MET opened at $70.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $45.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.76. MetLife, Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $84.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.69.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.43 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. MetLife’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were issued a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. MetLife’s payout ratio is 48.30%.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.